Plus, the mystery under Iceland; the power of a shower
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON, MAGNUM | | Seventy-five years ago, at the stroke of midnight, India won its freedom after two centuries of British rule. But the cost was staggering. A subcontinent-sized land was suddenly divided into two new nations—Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-dominated Pakistan.
That prompted the largest human migration in history, with as many as 18 million Hindus and Muslims swiftly fleeing ancestral lands to move to the hastily drawn “right” states (shown here). As many as 3.4 million people were killed or went missing in sectarian violence.
The division, called Partition, still haunts the region and affects politics and culture worldwide. Its simmering tensions have been the backdrop for wars, nuclear competition, and art such as Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel.
Read our full story here. See the maps that show how India was split. And hear from a survivor of that harrowing displacement.
Please, consider getting our full digital report and magazine by subscribing here.
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 | | PHOTOGRAPH VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS | | | Wrenching departures: Pictured at top, refugees from Partition exercise to ward off despair at a camp for displaced persons; pictured above, Muslim refugees crowd onto a train near New Delhi as they try to flee India on September 19, 1947. Read more. | | | |
| | On a moonless night: As the sun sets, the stars and the glow of a nearby city will illuminate this Italian church in Sanzanello, along the famed Appian Way. The pioneering Roman “superhighway” is being restored to create a pilgrimage route throughout history, a prospect that thrills photographer Andrea Frazzetta. “Having walked the path, I realize we are talking about an invaluable heritage at risk,” he says. More than 180,000 people “liked” this golden image on our Instagram page. Read more about the Appian Way’s return here, and hear Frazzetta talk about his walk. | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPHS BY SOFIA LOPEZ MAÑAN | | | Monumental: That’s the word used to describe efforts to save the Andean condor, the world’s largest bird of prey. With a wingspan of 10 feet and a lifespan of 50 years, the bird has long been revered among Indigenous Andean cultures as a symbol of power and immortality. Fewer than 7,000 have been reported remaining in the wild, but 64 condors (including Kurruf, above right) have been released along Patagonia’s Atlantic coast in hopes of reestablishing its 19th century range, Nat Geo reports. (Above left, a symbol of a condor on a wand in an Indigenous ceremony in northwestern Argentina.) | | | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY ARIC CRABB, MEDIANEWS GROUP/EAST BAY TIMES/GETTY IMAGES | | | Delayed recognition: At the Malaya Tea Room in Alameda, California, a spoonful of rooibos tea leaves is mixed with coconut and lavender. The multimillion-dollar rooibos industry is rooted in South Africa’s Cederberg region, the only place the plant can be found in the wild or cultivated. Because the tea was commercialized by Dutch colonists, the country’s indigenous Khoi and San people haven’t been rewarded or recognized for discovering the tea or its myriad health benefits—until now. Read more here. | | | |
Thanks to the many readers who responded to our query about “hybrid” animals after our story in yesterday's newsletter. In Australia, there are hybrids and backcrosses between two distinct but related species of lorikeet, writes James A. Serpell. On Kauai, the scarlet-and-gray cardinals delight reader Robert W. Bentley. Watch on!
This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Jen Tse, Heather Kim, Allie Yang, and Anne Kim-Dannibale. Are you a rooibos fan? Let us know at david.beard@natgeo.com. Have a good weekend! | | | |
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